Stephen Curry must understand the new arbitration rules | NBA

This year, if the usefulness of the preseason can continue to raise questions, as for a long time, it will at least have the merit of allowing “fault provocateurs” to integrate the new rules of refereeing, put in place by the NBA for the upcoming campaign.

During June, in the midst of the playoffs, the league had indeed announced that it wanted to limit the impact of these players who trap the defenders, by voluntarily causing contact, to recover free throws. Before adopting this change of rules at the end of the Finals, a month later, then unveiling concrete examples, at the time of the Summer League.

And, from now on, from this 2021/22 exercise, four situations will have to be better appreciated by the referees: the one where the attacker throws himself or leans towards the defender, the one where the attacker swings his leg towards the defender, that where the attacker abruptly changes direction towards the defender and, finally, the one where the attacker catches the defender’s arm with a little academic shot.

Consequently, if the referees judge that the attacker’s angle is « abnormal » in these different situations, they can then whistle for an offensive foul or allow play to proceed without intervening ( » no-call « ). Much to the chagrin of James Harden, Joel Embiid and Trae Young, seasoned “fault provocateurs”.

Stephen Curry in the midst of confusion

But these three players won’t be the only ones who have to get used to these new rules, as Stephen Curry also tends to overly seek fault when playing.

And, facing the Blazers at the start of the preseason, the All-Star point guard saw for himself that the referee was already well established with the new rules, because he inherited a  » no-call When he threw himself at his defender, Nassir Little, for three free throws.

The double MVP may have raised his arms to the sky, looking insistently at the referees for a whistle, they did not flinch and the game continued, as if nothing had happened. On the edge of the floor, Steve Kerr’s protests also did not help much.

A rather confusing situation for Stephen Curry, who believes that everyone will need time to adapt to better assimilate these changes.

 » There will be confusion at first, it’s obvious “, He admits, for The Athletic.  » It always takes a while to adjust to the changes they put in place from year to year. But there will be some inconsistencies, as with the ‘not zero’ story a few years ago. Umpires are trained to observe something specific, but there are a lot of other things that come into play. So they too will have to adapt. « 

And the Warriors player to continue, still in relation to this confusion generated by this new rule. This time, relying on an example taken by the league to illustrate a situation where the attacker suddenly changes direction towards the defender. Example which concerns, in this case, the triple NBA champion.

 » On an action against Milwaukee, two players were defending at the same time on me », He says on this subject.  » I changed direction and I believe that [Donte] DiVincenzo came behind me. They took this action as an example, explaining that it would no longer be considered a fault. [défensive] corn [comme une faute offensive]. And I found myself there, watching the video, lost, wondering how it could not be a defensive foul. « 

A necessary change for Steve Kerr

But for Steve Kerr, who certainly wanted Stephen Curry to get the whistle on this action against Portland, this new point of settlement was necessary, in particular to put defense back at the heart of the game.

 » The game needs this, I keep repeating the same thing », Says the coach of Golden State.  » This is what every coach wants. As long as the referees respect what the league asks of them, and I think they will, we will have no more players trying to manipulate the referees and we will come back to real basketball. Defense must be able to defend. Defending has never been so difficult, with all these shots. I feel like the league realized things had gone too far, giving the forward the benefit of the doubt. So it was really important to make some of this bullshit go away. « 

Looking back, and like his coach, Stephen Curry, however, praises the effort of the NBA, eager to purify the game.

 » The objective remains to put the ball in the basket, not to go to the free throw line by any means. So I appreciate the effort », He explains on this subject.

And, if he does not yet know if this change will disturb him offensively, Stephen Curry does not intend to procrastinate too much on the floor, continuing to do what he knows how to do best: play.

 » I will sometimes complain about the whistle even though I will try not to », Ends the top scorer in the reigning league.  » But I’m mainly looking to get my shot, rather than get a foul. I always have fun behind the 3-point line and, when there is a contact, I will make sure that it is known. So we’ll see how it goes. «